We can still buck Ashes odds, says upbeat Clarke
Two down in the series and coming off the back of a thumping 347-run defeat at Lord's, the bookmakers make Clarke's side 4-1 outsiders to keep their slender hopes of winning the series alive in Manchester.
Michael Clarke provoked raucous laughter when he said Australia could still win the Ashes after the Lord's pasting, but he was at it again yesterday when he asserted his tourists could buck the odds and beat England at Old Trafford.
Two down in the series and coming off the back of a thumping 347-run defeat at Lord's, the bookmakers make Clarke's side 4-1 outsiders to keep their slender hopes of winning the series alive in Manchester.
No test cricket captain is ever likely to capitulate before the toss has been made, though, and Clarke, encouraged by a tense 14-run defeat in the first test, was a model of positive mental attitude in his column in a popular Sydney newspaper.
"England were the better team at Lord's, but we know we can beat them," he wrote in yesterday. "This is not some sort of hollow boast. We almost won the first test at Trent Bridge little more than a fortnight ago. Big results can turn on little moments.
"We have shown enough on this tour individually to know that if we put our performances together as a unit we are a very competitive side.
